Griffon leaned close and whispered, “Knife tied around my right arm, slip knot.”
Robin’s mouth twitched into a smile. She twisted her position to lift her hand as high as she could. Griffon had to slump down to get the angle just right which was horribly uncomfortable, but Robin was finally able to slowly lift her sleeve and grip the rope to undo the knot. Griffon felt the weight vanish. She braced for the sound of the knife falling to the ground and was thankful when instead, she felt the rope around her wrists rub along her skin as Robin started to slowly cut through her bonds.
It seemed to take forever. When Griffon finally felt the ropes around her wrists drop away, she had to resist the urge to celebrate. She quickly grabbed the knife from Robin and went about cutting her free while trying to stay in the same general position. Again, they went slowly. When Robin was free, she quickly woke Robert and placed a finger to her lips to quiet him as he lurched awake. After he was loose, Griffon caught Robin’s eye and nodded toward Alan.
Robin stood without a sound and first went to the rack. She picked out a longsword before slowly making her way over to Alan. Griffon likewise went to the rack and removed her own blade before passing one to Robert. When she turned toward the door, she saw Robin do something she hadn’t expected. Robin stood behind Alan and made a soft click with her tongue to get his attention. The moment he turned, she swung her sword and struck him hard across the face, sending him backwards into the wall with a crash. He quickly brought both hands to his mouth and nose. Griffon heard a muffled cry.
Griffon ran over to him and knelt to check the damage to his face. She could already hear the commotion above as the lookouts clearly heard the sound. Alan had tears openly streaming down his cheeks. With his eyes closed tightly, he gripped his nose and mouth with both hands. Sometimes it was hard to remember that he was the youngest of them all; there were very few moments like this where it was obvious. When Griffon looked at him, all she could think of was Richard, her frail and timid brother. She pulled his hand away and saw that a tooth had been broken, and more than likely his nose judging from the amount of blood that was flowing.
Griffon stood and shoved Robin back hard. No longer caring about stealth, she released her anger and shouted, “What is wrong with you?”
Robin stared at her with an annoyed look in her eyes. When she made no motion to reply, Griffon balled her hand into a fist and swung at her head, but Robin leaned backwards and smoothly avoided the swing. Now her expression changed from annoyance to amusement, which only made Griffon angrier. She heard someone coming down the ladder behind her and chose to deal with Robin later. She scowled one last time at Robin before shouldering past her and running outside. “Let’s go!” she yelled.
Robin and Robert ran to the left side of the pond while Griffon veered right. The moment they were out in the open, they heard several shouts from the roof. Griffon looked back to see two of the lookouts disappear down the ladder. Several more people poured out of the doorway, with another stopping to check on Alan. Again Griffon felt her anger flare at Robin, but had to push it aside for the moment. She kept up the ruse of her sprain to entice the other team to follow her.
They were on her quickly enough. Two jumped in front of her to cut her off. She saw four more head for Robert and Robin. Aaron had come after her again and now stood in front of her, sword in hand. Without a word he swung for her “good” leg, obviously expecting her to stumble when she put weight on the sprain. Instead, she jumped over the blade, then moved forward with a wide slash that nearly caught him in the chest.
A look of surprise crossed his face. Griffon pressed her advantage, taking solid steps toward him as she swung with both hands. She never stopped her advance, forcing him to backpedal. Their swords locked when he blocked a low slash at his side, but it lasted for only a moment before he dropped under her blade and out of the lock, letting the weight she’d been pushing into him throw her off balance. As Griffon fell forward, he rose again and tried to get her in another grapple to hold her in place. In front of her, the second boy tried to occupy her by swinging at her shoulder. Rather than block and get grabbed from behind, she dove under the boy’s swing and rose behind him, swinging her sword as she did so to strike him in the ribs.
The blow sent him to the side a few steps and out of her way. She didn’t see what he did after that and instead focused on Aaron, who quickly closed the gap between them. He swung for her shoulder. She ducked the blade and heard it whiz over her, but he had anticipated the reaction. In the same motion, he brought his leg around and hit her in the chest, sending her to the ground. The blow knocked the wind out of her. At the moment, she couldn’t see herself winning this fight. She’d never been able to beat Aaron before. If things kept going the way they were now, she wouldn’t this time either.
She managed to rise to one knee as Aaron gripped her wrist and twisted her arm behind her back to hold her in place. “Give up,” he said, “and drop your sword.”
She looked over her shoulder and smiled against the strain. “You’ll have to break my arm first,” she said. “Sorry, but I’m not going home.”
“You know I’m not going to do that, but you can’t win this fight, Griffon.”
“Then we’re going be here a while, aren’t we?”
Just as he was about to reply, a short wooden blade was placed gently on the side of Aaron’s neck. “I’m sorry, Aaron.”
They both looked at the wielder, making Aaron sigh as he stood. Daniel was behind him, a short sword in his hand. Aaron let go of Griffon’s wrist. She quickly clutched it to her chest and massaged it to get the feeling back.
Aaron sighed helplessly. “I should’ve been watching my back better, I guess. Good luck to both of you, no matter who wins in the end.”
Daniel glanced at the fort behind them. “I’m sorry, Aaron,” he said. “I wish we’d been on the same side.”
With a confused expression on his face, Aaron followed Daniel’s gaze. When he saw the empty flagpole, his jaw hung open. “How . . . ” he said, then started over. “When did you manage to do that?”
Griffon also looked at the empty pole atop the fort. They’d won. But the victory was incredibly bitter to Griffon. While it had been their goal, this wasn’t something she was going to savor. The remainder of the night was spent spreading out around the forest to make sure everyone was informed that the game was now over and they were no longer fighting with one another. When everyone had been told, they all made their way to the fort in the clearing for their final night since no one favored walking back to Vigil in the dark.
Plenty of congratulations were thrown at Griffon for pulling off the rescue and at Daniel for coming up with the plan, though the majority of praise was piled on Lace. She had been the most distant from the rest of them until now, aside from Robin. Upon receiving so much attention, she found herself smiling and seemed to be genuinely enjoying her time in the spotlight. But after several minutes, it seemed to end. She receded back into an antisocial mindset after stern and angry looks from both Robin and Robert as they pulled her back into their fold. Griffon couldn’t understand how Lace managed to be around them. Robin seemed like an abusive person, while Robert with his superiority complex was a drain to talk to.
Aside from the praise, there was equal parts of disdain toward Robin for what she had done to Alan, which quickly spread through the group like wildfire. His nose was, by way of a minor miracle, unbroken, so he would be fine aside from a chipped front tooth and a severe distrust of Robin for the foreseeable future. The remainder of the night, however, was tainted by a downer tone that was oppressive enough to dampen most conversation. None of them were happy with the outcome. Those that had won were burdened with the knowledge that they had just sent half of their comrades home. Those that lost were being sent home, forced to abandon their aspirations. All of them were losing friends. This weight sent most of them to sleep outright the moment they lay their heads do
wn.
Griffon, however, was unable to follow suit. She rose from her bedding and climbed down the ladder to the first floor, where she gingerly stepped over and around everyone who slept. She made her way outside and around the corner of the fort to lean against the wall. She looked up at the stars for a moment, then drew her knife from her belt and pulled a small wooden figure out of her pocket. It was supposed to be a warden holding a great axe above his head, but at the moment it looked like a fat man holding an oblong log.
She started to chip away pieces from where the axe head was meant to be as her thoughts wandered. After several minutes and a few blood beads on the tips of her fingers, she was thoroughly frustrated. She sighed, put the knife back in the sheath at her belt, and tossed the figure to the ground.
She couldn’t focus at the moment. She kept thinking back to her fight with Aaron, which made her angry, which made her think about how she was going to be losing him, which made her angrier. That took her thoughts to how she had lost to Jane, and in turn to how she had treated Clara, which she still had not apologized for. The combination made her feel not just angry, but also ashamed. Her thoughts were a whirlwind, all of them negative.
“What is this supposed to be?”
Griffon turned to see Daniel holding the carving she had tossed away.
“It’s nothing,” she said. “Just something to pass the time.” She walked over and tried to take it from him.
He leaned away from her and tried to get a better look at it in the dark. “Oh, come on,” he said. “What is it?”
She crossed her arms and shrugged as she felt her face start to burn. “Just a warden, I guess.”
He nodded. “Oh, yeah I can see that. Kind of. Have you ever done wood carving before?”
“No. It’s just something I wanted to try.”
“You’re pretty good at it. You’ll have to show it to me when it’s done.”
Griffon snatched it from him and stuck it back in her pocket. She leaned against the wall while Daniel did the same. They didn’t say anything and just watched the stars above them for a long while.
“So what’s wrong?” Daniel asked, turning to face her.
She shook her head. “Nothing’s wrong.”
“Liar.”
She sighed. “You should know what’s wrong.”
“Yeah, I guess I do. Winning is kind of bitter, isn’t it?”
“To put it lightly.”
He ran a hand through his hair before speaking again. “Well, I’m pretty sure I can tell something else is wrong. So what is it?”
“Nothing important.”
“I doubt that if it’s bothering you this much.” When she didn’t reply, he stepped in front of her, an eyebrow raised. “So? What is it?”
She hesitated for a moment. “I guess . . . I’m just angry at myself. I’m angry that I needed help with Aaron, and with Jane.”
“You’re mad that you needed help?”
She sighed. “Look, I came here because I wanted to be able to protect myself instead of always having to rely on others to save me when I’m in trouble. I was tired of needing help to fight back because I’m too weak to do it by myself.”
He was quiet at first, as if waiting for Griffon to say more. When she didn’t, he shrugged. “That’s it?”
“What do you mean, ‘That’s it’?”
“You’re mad because your friends helped you when you were in trouble?”
She felt her cheeks flush. “When you say it like that, it sounds stupid.”
He laughed. “Well to be honest, it kind of is. Everyone needs help every now and again. Even if they don’t want to admit or ask for it, and you’re only getting stronger so you won’t always need it. You’re one of the best fighters out of twenty-two people. Twenty-two! I wish I was even half as talented as you. So what if you don’t win every fight? I mean, you were fighting two against one, and not only did you hold your own, you took one of them out. You’re anything but weak.”
Griffon slid down the wall and sat down in the cool damp grass. “After living in Forge and being bullied by the bigger players for contracts, and just the way people looked at me because of who my parents were . . . I just wanted to be able to stand on my own, against anything.”
“I understand that,” Daniel said. He sat down next to her. “But letting others help you isn’t being weak. If anything, it makes you stronger. It means you don’t let your pride get in the way. In the end you still won, just not on your own.”
She thought on it for a moment. She supposed in the end all that should matter was that each fight was won. Even if she hadn’t done so on her own. Her side had come out on top, though in this particular situation she wasn’t sure that was a good thing. The more she thought about it, the more she was sure that was enough. Even if she couldn’t do it by herself, she could make sure the side she was on won. That would be as much her victory as everyone else’s.
“Thanks, Daniel.”
He grinned at her. “Don’t thank me. Just help me get better with a sword.”
She smiled and gently shoved him. “I think that’s a lost cause at this point.”
The next morning was equally depressing for them. They all rose slowly as the exertion from the last several days was finally catching up to them. Just as they were ready to start their trek back to Vigil, they looked out over the clearing to the tree line. Austin and Claudia were making their way over, along with Obadiah. The trainees watched them approach. When they reached the doorway, they gathered around the three instructors and waited to hear what they had to say.
Claudia was the first to address them. “You all performed wonderfully. You all did well adapting to the other team, as well as forming excellent strategies.”
Daniel looked at Austin with an annoyed expression. “You were watching us, weren’t you?” he said.
Austin shrugged. “Not me personally. But there were a couple of rangers that had some free time.”
Obadiah crossed his arms and grunted. “Can we get this over with?”
Claudia nodded. “Right,” she said. We have some news for all of you. At the start of this exercise, you were told that the winners would be allowed to stay and that the team that lost would be escorted home. We’re here to inform—”
Austin spread his arms out wide and shouted, “We lied!”
Claudia glared at him as the trainees stared in confusion. None of them thought they’d heard correctly.
Aaron was the one to voice their thoughts: “What do you mean, exactly?”
Claudia gave Austin a dirty look for another few moments, then turned back to the trainees. “We told you that one team would go home and one would stay,” she said. “This was because we had to give you proper motivation.”
Obadiah pointed at Zachery. “You never give a battle in the training yard your all,” he said,” unless you think you’re about to lose.”
Austin pointed at Daniel. “You tend to avoid conflict altogether if you can help it. You rarely take the initiative.”
Claudia then motioned to Robin. “You prefer to act independently during team exercises.”
They all were still thoroughly confused. Alan raised a timid hand. “So . . . none of us are going home?”
Obadiah made a sweeping motion to all of them. “None of you had ever given a task your best effort,” he said. “To offset this, we gave you the highest stakes we could. This battle obviously could not be a matter of life and death, so we decided that this was the closest we could get.”
Austin nodded. “Battles in the real world are life and death,” he said. “There is rarely if ever a middle ground. All of you sacrificed much to come here, some more than others. This was essentially the same thing to you. This was life or death.”
Claudia sighed. “Proper motivation.”
Their words slowly dawned
on the trainees. One by one, smiles started to spread throughout the group. Soon they were all overjoyed. None of them was losing anything. Griffon took a deep breath. Without thinking, she leaned over and pulled Aaron into an embrace, who quickly returned it.
Chapter Twenty-two
7th of Anden, 27th year of the Fourth Age.
Daniel’s training had been ongoing for eight months. He didn’t feel that he had progressed much. Yet in spite of his opinion on his own growth, Commander Hall had decided it had been plenty long enough for them all to receive some minor experience in the field. Daniel wasn’t sure that what he was doing now should count toward that. The trainees were using their day off to rotate shifts with the city guard, walking patrols and dealing with public issues along with a normally scheduled Dragon Guard. Public issues more often than not were simply an argument gone too far or a pickpocket caught in the act. It wasn’t what Daniel had expected when Hall first told them they would be doing “field work,” but at least it broke up the routine every week.
Today was Daniel’s turn to patrol the harbor and cliff side just outside the city, which was the most uneventful area of Vigil from what he had been told. Based on personal experience so far, he was able to confirm that. But it could have been far worse. He was just grateful to be assigned with Kenneth, who he hadn’t seen in several months save for passing glances and the occasional wave across one of the keep halls or the courtyard. Currently, they were discussing Daniel and Aaron’s training progress as they made their way down the steep path from the city gate.
“Not a single match?” Kenneth said with clear surprise. “He’s far more talented then I initially thought.”
“More so than me at the very least,” Daniel said. “Even when he’s on the verge of losing, he keeps calm and somehow manages to turn it around every time.”
Kenneth nodded. “Aaron is a strong young man and has a level head,” he said. “You’re skilled in your own right. Don’t sell yourself short.” He paused. “How is the rest of your training progressing?”
Guards Vestige Page 27